Ryn struck, his sword aiming straight at the man's abdomen.

However, before the sword could reach, something intercepted it…

A mass of black tendrils burst out from beneath the man's clothes, writhing like a nest of living shadows. They coiled around the steel with a wet, unnatural sound, halting the strike mid-thrust.

A grin appeared on his face, like he had anticipated this outcome.

"Surprised?" the man rasped, his voice layered with something… not entirely human.

The tendrils tightened.

Ryn immediately pulled his sword out and kicked off the cobblestone, backstepping out of reach.

The tendrils snapped toward him, lashing the air where he'd stood a heartbeat earlier.

"What the hell did they put inside you…" Ryn muttered under his breath, eyes tracking the squirming mass.

They looked organic, almost alive as if…this man was a human chimera.

The tendrils recoiled for a moment, then snapped forward, slamming into the cobblestone with enough force to crack the ground. Dust sprayed upward in a jagged burst.

Ryn slid back, boots grinding against stone.

The cultist chuckled—a wet, distorted sound that vibrated from somewhere beneath his own voice.

"You see it now, don't you?" he rasped. "Our devotion runs deeper than flesh. We offer our bodies… for evolution."

The tendrils widened behind him like a grotesque pair of wings, lifting and lowering in slow, rhythmic pulses.

Ryn's grip tightened on his sword.

Maria's voice came through, low and tense:

"Prioritize the kids."

Ryn nodded, replying.

"Then help me find a weakness, anything."

The chimera lunged.

The tendrils fired like spears, slicing toward Ryn's torso and throat. He ducked the first, twisted past the second, then burst forward with Aquila, slashing upward.

The blade hit, but tendrils absorbed most of the blow. Deforming like tar around the steel before snapping back with a violent recoil.

It was clear that the chimera was several layers stronger than him, in near speed and strength as Scorpio.

But, while he was distracted, a third tendril struck, clipping him near the abdomen. Pain exploded from within as his blood came pouring out of the wound.

[HP: 120/150]

He kicked off with all his might, managing to create some distance.

"Ryn?!" Maria snapped. "You okay?"

"Peachy," he hissed, wiping the blood with the back of his hand.

The chimera dragged a tendril across the ground, carving a groove in the stone as it walked closer, eyes glowing with twisted amusement.

"You think yourself a knight in shining armor…?" it croaked.

"For stray children?"

Ryn wiped blood from his mouth, refusing to step back.

"They're innocent."

"Innocent?" the chimera echoed with a rasping laugh. "You fool. They're valuable."

Ryn's grip tightened.

"Valuable how?"

The chimera didn't answer directly. It didn't need to.

Instead, it sneered, tendrils twitching with glee.

"Because they shine, brighter than any within this city. The plan would be damn perfect, if not for the paladin messing it up!"

Ryn froze for half a second.

Shine…?

A flicker of memory struck him.

Ryn saw at least a dozen children at the bakery. Yet the Cult only took two.

Jay had been beaten, burned, and tossed aside like trash. His wounds had been meant to silence him, not preserve him.

A complicated surge of relief and dread washed over Ryn.

So they don't know the future…but why these siblings instead of the future Master Alchemist?

What made those children so valuable?

Before Ryn could finish his thoughts, another tendril struck. Ryn was barely able to deflect it with the flat of his blade.

"Tsk…"

The creature clicked its tongue, sounding almost bored.

"Why am I complaining to a dead man?"

Ryn shifted to block, thinking that another was going to aim at the same spot, his abdomen.

But it was a mistake, the tendril struck low this time, smashing into his thigh.

Pain shot up his leg.

[HP: 70/150]

The chimera's grin widened at the sight of blood.

"Look at you… wobbling already."

Ryn grit his teeth, stepping back, vision swimming. He can't just keep dodging, he needed an opening, a decisive attack.

His eyes flicked across the street, and for a heartbeat, he saw it.

The old water tower.

He remembered passing it earlier, thinking it looked ready to collapse with one good hit.

His mind sparked.

That will work.

He forced himself upright, ignoring the pulse of pain in his side.

Maria caught the shift in his posture immediately.

"Ryn? What are you—?"

He didn't answer.

Instead, he sprinted toward the chimera, weaving past its numerous attacks to get to the roofs.

The chimera blinked, confused.

"Where do you think you're running, little knight?"

The creature slammed onto the roof behind him, the entire structure groaning under the weight. Tiles shattered underneath the chimera's weight.

The creature rose slowly, its silhouette framed by moonlight and writhing tendrils.

"Up here… there's nowhere to run," it hissed.

Ryn exhaled sharply.

"That's the idea."

He sprinted again, boots skidding on the sloped surface, leaping from one rooftop to the next. The chimera followed immediately, bounding after him with horrifying speed, each landing cracking tiles and sending debris hurtling off the edges.

Maria's voice crackled in his ear:

"Ryn, where are you going?!"

He finally landed on a nearby balcony. He didn't get a second to breathe.

THUD—!!

The chimera crashed down behind him, splintering half the railing with its weight.

It straightened slowly, tendrils unfurling behind it like dark wings.

"So predictable…" it rasped, voice bubbling with amusement.

"You run, I chase. You bleed, I enjoy. This little rooftop dance—"

It stepped forward, grinning wide enough to tear skin.

"—is already over."

Ryn backed up a step.

Not out of fear.

To position.

The chimera followed, advancing with sick confidence—

completely unaware that its hunched, hulking form had stopped right beneath the old water tower above the balcony.

"Cornered, little paladin? Nowhere left to go?"

Ryn narrowed his eyes.

"No," he exhaled, a cold edge in his voice. "Just one thing left to do."

Ryn raised his fingers, pointing at the water tower.

"Look up, genius."

The chimera took his words, but it was too late.

[Orion - MP Charged: 20]

[MP: 90/110]

A silver arrow of starlight spiraled into existence at Ryn's fingertips.

He released it.

It shot upward in a sharp arc, the glow clean and bright against the moonlit night, a streak of silver cutting through darkness.

THUNK—!

The arrow pierced the weakened metal of the water tower.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then—

GROOOOOOAN…

The entire structure shuddered violently, metal bent inward in a tortured scream, a bulging crack spiderwebbed across the tank.

Ryn's expression didn't change.

"Now drown."

The chimera looked up, confusion flickering too late across its mangled face.

The tower burst.

Water erupted downward in a monstrous cascade, smashing into the chimera with a force that flattened the balcony railing and shook the entire building.

SPLAAAAAAAAAASH—!!!

The creature let out a gurgling shriek as the flood swallowed it, slamming its body into the rooftop, tendrils flailing uselessly against the torrent.

Ryn stood on the railing high above the area, sword in hand for the perfect opportunity.

Maria's voice crackled in his ear, half-panicked and half awed:

"Ryn—!? What did you—"

"Bought myself an opening," he hissed.

The drowned chimera struggled beneath the collapsing water, its right flank exposed.

His eyesight sharpened, the path of light seemed to agree with his choice, as it lit up.

Aquila's never been wrong before, and it certainly will not be today.

[Aquila - Burst Step]

[MP: 70/110]

Tiles shattered under his heel as his body launched forward in a violent acceleration. Not teleportation, but raw speed so intense it distorted the air behind him.

In the span of a heartbeat, he crossed the entire balcony.

His boots hit the roof with a force that sent a spray of water flying.

Ryn was already beside the chimera.

And he didn't hesitate.

His blade sliced upward in a diagonal arc. Steel tore through the chimera's right flank, carving a deep gas through soaked flesh.

Black blood mingled instantly with water, spilling down its side.

That was the strike.

Then came the kill.

[Frost Bloom]

His Cold Essence immediately filled the gap. The cut he'd made began to crystallize, not from outside…but from within.

Water that had rushed into the open gash now acted like a conductor, a bridge for his cold energy. Tiny white crystals appeared deep in the torn tissue—

The cold caught up, multiplied, and spread.

CRRRRRK—CRACK—!!

The chimera screamed as frost burst outward from its own insides, racing along veins and muscle. The external flesh bulged and split as the internal freeze expanded, tearing open the wound far wider than Ryn's blade alone ever could.

Ice erupted through the ribcage—and there, for the first time, something pulsed beneath:

A weak, flickering violet glow.

The core, half-exposed through the ruptured frost.

Maria's voice burst into his ear:

"Ryn—! Destroy it!"

Ryn raised his hand.

Silver starlight coiled into his fingertips again, this time, at point blank.

[Orion - MP Charged: 65]

[MP: 5/110]

The arrow's glow intensified to a blinding white-silver, illuminating the rooftop in a halo of celestial light. Ryn drew a breath through clenched teeth.

"It's over."

He released his fingers.

The arrow erupted, ripping through the chimera's body like a force of nature. The core imploded, collapsing inward like glass under pressure, before exploding in a burst of violent shards and pale starlight.

The shockwave tore through the chimera's frozen chest, shattering into pieces like tiny bits of snowflakes.

The silence afterward was serene, like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

The only thing that did, was his earpiece. Maria's voice came through.

"Ryn…who are you?"

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